Another crushing blow from Blighty

Last updated at 10:43 28 August 2006

Yet again, British soldiers risking their lives daily in their country's service face the threat of action of a different sort.

On the day our 21st soldier died in Afghanistan, it emerges that military police have launched six shooting inquiries into suspected breaches of the Government's strict rules of engagement in the conflict. They may lead to charges of murder or manslaughter.

Of course soldiers should be punished if they disgrace their uniforms.

But has this Government of lawyers any idea of the appalling conditions British troops are suffering in Afghanistan?

Has it the slightest notion what it is like for frightened and exhausted young squaddies, faced with instantaneous life-or-death decisions in the heat of battle?

Tony Blair has made massive demands of the services since 1997, stretching their resources to the limit and beyond.

Yet he and his Ministers have done more to encourage legal action against British servicemen than any Government before.

Why? Surely it's just so that they can parade their own smug consciences before the world.

But what precisely do they have to be smug about? In Iraq, they threw us into an unnecessary and probably illegal war, with their dodgy dossiers and lies about weapons of mass destruction.

In Afghanistan, they have saddled our troops with an ill-defined job, while denying them the resources to do it.

These latest legal threats are yet another morale-sapping blow from Blighty. Is the Government fully on our troops' side?